


Starting a Fire

by hart051



Category: Yu-Gi-Oh! VRAINS
Genre: Fluff and Humor, Gen, Pre-Canon, Pre-Season/Series 02
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-12-28
Updated: 2021-01-16
Packaged: 2021-03-10 23:54:24
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 2,919
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28375761
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/hart051/pseuds/hart051
Summary: Just some drabbles between Homura Takeru and Flame as they begin their partnership.
Relationships: Flame & Homura Takeru
Comments: 5
Kudos: 11





	1. Meet the Salamangreats

**Author's Note:**

> VRAINS is one of my favorite series in the Yu-Gi-Oh! franchise along side 5ds(especially the sub version). Homura Takeru or Soulburner is one of my favorite characters and I like the relationship dynamic he has with Flame.  
> One of the things I didn't like about this anime is that there weren't very many 'slice of life' moments compared to previous series. I get the show's vibe/premise was not the same and that the 'Yu-protagonist' (Yusaku Fujiki) does not like dueling like his predecessors.  
> I ended up typing some 'chapters' revolving around Takeru and Flame among other yu-gi-oh related works. These chapters were written as I was inspired rather than chronology. I'll rearrange them as I see fit, but in the end I hope you readers for Yu-Gi-Oh! and perhaps other fandoms enjoy this work.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Takeru gets the Salamangreats.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yusaku received his Cyberse deck from Ai (indirectly) and from the flashbacks in episodes 61 and 63 Takeru was using a Fire Warrior deck and not his Salamangreat which he definitely got from Flame. Taking this to heart I figured Flame would through hacking get his cards 'realized' so Takeru can take a look at them and use them with his duel disk which uses real cards rather than the card database.  
> This is my interpretation of this as Soulburner had stuck to using Heatlio and the beginning swarmed the field with three monsters in order to bring it out. He eventually adapted link-climbing, summoning lower rated link monsters to summon his ace.

“What’s this?” Takeru asked as he carried some food and other necessities he bought from a nearby convenience store. He saw a small package left at the door of his new lodging. He picked it up and examined it. “I didn’t order this and it's not from home.”

“I did.” Flame answered, popping out of the disk as Takeru put away his haul and examined the package. “It’s your new deck to use in the VRAINS.”

“What’s wrong with my old deck?” He asked.

“Nothing, but you might want to have a different deck for when you duel in the VRAINS so people don’t identify who you are in real life.” Flame pointed out.

“I guess that's true.”

“If you are going to be dueling in the VRAINS, you should be using these cards.” 

Takeru unwrapped the package and opened the box. He took out the cards and began to flip through them. They were all fire-attributed monsters that resembled various animals. A falcon, a jaguar, a peafowl, foxes, a gazelle, to name a few.

“ _Salamangreat_.” He read. “ _Cyberse_?”

“They're monsters created by the Ignis from data material.” Flame explained.

Takeru nodded, still looking at the cards, leafing through them.

“What do you think? Cool, no?” Flame asked, he seemed a little smug.

“They are.” Takeru admitted. Just like Playmaker’s monsters.

His eyes fell on one particular card in the extra deck. It was a link-3 monster. A huge orange cyborg that resembled a large cat, a lion, tiger? “ _Salamangreat Heatlio_.” Takeru read.

“Ah. You found the deck’s ace.” Flame stretched himself to look on.

“It’s powerful, what’s this about using itself as link material? Its summoning conditions are two fire monsters. Wouldn’t it be a waste to use itself and another monster to link summon?” He moved the card aside and saw another copy of Heatlio. “There’s two of them.”

“That’s the deck’s specialty. Something no other deck can do.” Flame stated.

“What’s that?” He asked this time looking at the Ignis.

“Reincarnation link summon.” Flame announced, taking time to pronounce each syllable.

“Reincarnation link summon?” Takeru repeated.

“Using a certain field spell, you can link summon a 'Salamangreat' link monster using a copy of itself as link material.”

Takeru leafed back through the deck and spotted the mentioned field spell. There were three erupting volcanoes in the background and a seal in the foreground. On that seal was Heatlio. He showed it to Flame. “This card.”

“Ah. You catch on quick. But, that’s not the only cool card in this deck. You have plenty of other offenses like ritual and fusion.”

“Ritual, fusion?” 

“You don’t know what ritual and fusion are?”

“I haven’t ever summoned a monster from the extra deck.” Takeru admitted.

Flame nodded. “Ritual summoning summons a ritual monster from the main deck or hand. You need the ritual spell and to tribute monsters from your hand and/or field, the sum of who is equal or greater than the level of the ritual monster you are trying to summon.” Flame explained. “For this deck the ritual spell is _Rise of the Salamangreat_ and the ritual monster is _Salamangreat Emerald Eagle_.”

Takeru finds both the monster and the ritual spell. The ritual spell was similar to the field spell, except there was one volcano. The sky was covered with clouds a seal in it letting in light and a bird-like creature descending from it. The bird-like creature was the ritual monster, a large green bird. He reads their effects. Another card catches his eyes. It was some sort of spiral. A red flame spiraling inward along with a purple flame.

“ _Fusion of Fire_.” He read.

“That’s for the fusion monster.” Flame answered. “Other than your hand and your field, it’ll also allow you to use an opponent’s monster on the field as fusion material.”

He went through the extra deck and found the fusion monster. A purple version of Heatlio that was standing more upright than its link monster counterpart with several large blades attached to its back legs. It had twin snake-like tails. Its right arm was a single lance-like blade while the left resembled a snake head.

“ _Salamangreat Violet Chimera_.” Takeru read. “It looks fearsome.”

“Of course.” Flame agreed, then paused. “Oh, that’s right. Do you know how to Speed Duel?”

“There are three main monster zones, three spell/trap zones. There’s no Main Phase 2. You can have up to four cards in your hand, the player who starts first can’t draw.” Takeru listed. He had been re-watching past duels of Playmaker, Blue Angel and Go Onizuka as closely as possible. He remembered one more detail about speed duels. “There’s a skill you can activate once per duel.”

Flame nodded in approval. “That’s correct. The skill you’ll have is this one.”

A small projection screen appeared from the disk with some text. Takeru read it over.

“ _Burning Draw_. Sounds risky.”

“It is. You reduce your life points to 100 and for every 1000 life points given up you draw a card. Use it wisely.”

“Right.” Takeru replied. He sat down at his desk, took off his duel disk setting it aside so Flame can watch him, and separated the cards out to get a better look at them. A good duelist knows their cards and the strategies within them. After laying them all out he saw that the deck was a few cards short of a full deck. Takeru pulled out his old deck and leafed through it.

“What are you doing?” Flame asked.

“It’s a few cards short. My old deck has some cards that are compatible with this one. It’s a FIRE Warrior deck, but there are a couple of spells and traps I can use for FIRE attributed monsters.”

“You can’t just dump some cards into this deck just because they work with the same attribute.” Flame reproached.

“I know that.” Takeru calmly agreed and looked toward the Ignis. “So it’s a good thing you’re here.”

Flame blinked. “Me.”

“I have an AI partner to build a powerful deck with to confront my past together.”

“Partner?”

“I don’t really understand what an Ignis is or an AI , but I know you and I are in this together.”

Flame nodded. He and Takeru continued to work together adding just the right cards to the deck. Their deck.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> \- I figured that upon seeing Heatlio, Takeru would feel some sort of connection, like if he summons this monster he is sure to win kind of vibe. Similar to how many characters would often use a particular monster in almost every duel or major duels. Like Yugi and his Dark Magician or Jaden/Judai and his Flame Wingman(I know that there are other heroes he uses, but Flame Wingman has been with him since the beginning) or Yusei and Junk Warrior.  
> \- Other than link summoning, we have seen Soulburner use ritual, fusion and xyz. We see him ritual summon only once and it seemed like he fusion summoned for the first time during his duel with Blue Girl. Considering the incident and how he swore off dueling I figured Takeru is not familiar with other methods of summoning outside of link summoning which all his heroes and their opponents use during their duels.  
> \- There aren't any xyz monsters in the deck as of this fic, because I figured it wouldn't be until he sees Playmaker xyz summon for the first time that eventually leads to the addition of Miragestallio and Blaze Dragon to his deck. Flame likely created them after seeing how 'epic' Firewall Exceed Dragon is.  
> \- Flame's knowledge about Salamangreat's is a little questionable in the beginning of the series. Toward the end of Soulburner's first duel he assumed it was the end, forgetting about Heatlio's reincarnation effect. He also knows about Fusion of Fire, during the duel with Blue Girl, being the card that could get Soulburner out of his current predicament. It could the excitement during the first duel that made him forget about Heatlio's effect, but I figured in a relaxed setting he would know about all the cards in his archetype.  
> \- In the flashbacks, Takeru had used "Rising (of) Fire" as part of his strategy to win a duel and uses it in the duel against Blood Shepard in the same episode. In the card game it is a card that can be treated like 'Salamangreat', but it can be used in a Fire deck. I figured that the Salamangreat deck was a couple of cards short and/or Takeru wanted to add some of his old deck's card to make it work for him, seeing how the same card makes an appearance in both decks.


	2. Uniform

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Takeru takes the chance to start fresh while in Den City.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> We see Takeru while in Den City and what he was like while living with his grandparents. I wanted to write something about his choice in appearance, while he didn't really care about how he looked or presented himself before he decided to move to Den City.

“He’s Playmaker?” Takeru asked, staring at the image of a boy about his age with bright green eyes, blue and pink hair wearing a school uniform on a hologram projection screen from his duel disk.

“He is. His real name is Fujiki Yusaku. Age 16.” Replied Flame who was currently an eyeball in his duel disk. 

The Ignis popped out in his humanoid form and continued his report. “He’s a first year at Den City High School.”

Takeru nodded.

“He is not the only VRAINS hero at this school.” The image of the screen changed to a girl with short brown hair and eyes. “Zaizen Aoi. Age 16. She’s also a first year at Den City High School. The younger step-sister to the chief of security, Zaizen Akira. The school you’ll be attending in a few days, Takeru.”

“Wow.” Takeru expressed, then thought of something. “But, is this really okay? I skipped a lot of school back home-”

“No one will suspect a thing, besides you have something no one else has.”

“Oh, what’s that?” Takeru asked.

“An amazing AI such as myself.” The Ignis answered, pointing to himself. “Flame. The kanji translates to ‘indomitable, soul, dream’, Flame.”

“I know that. You’ve said that 10,000 times.”

“I’ve only said it 33 times.”

The boy sighed.

Takeru has found his AI partner to be very intelligent but a bit of a braggart. He has just started his new life in Den City, getting used to the fast pace of the city versus the slow pace of his port hometown. He would be starting school where his heroes Playmaker and Blue Angel attend as a transfer student. Initially he didn’t want to attend a new school, but it meant getting to meet one of his heroes, who is likely to make contact with Flame’s comrade, the Dark Ignis. It also meant maintaining a cover. It would be odd for a sixteen year old to be meandering the big city during a school semester plus it would give him plenty of opportunities to interact with Playmaker in real life and not seem suspicious. 

After the Knights of Hanoi were defeated, Playmaker had not made any appearances in the VRAINS. While, he knew Playmaker’s real identity and they could approach him, however Flame argued it would draw too much suspicion, additionally Playmaker may not have any other business in VRAINS or with the Lost Incident. Also, it would be a good time for Takeru to brush up on some necessary skills, managing a single apartment and self-finances.

“Why don’t you try on your school uniform?” Flame suggested. “It came in today didn’t it?”

Takeru looked over to the jacket and trousers he had left handing on the door handle. “Why should I?”

“To make sure it fits. You wouldn’t want to have a school uniform that doesn’t fit.”

Flame had a point, but he suspected there was more to that suggestion than making sure a school uniform is tailored to fit him. Takeru took the jacket and trousers of the hangers. From a recent shopping trip he took out a white dress shirt, pink tie and a pair of brown loafers, and carried all of them to the bathroom. Takeru began to take off his current outfit, hanging the garments off a towel rack. He put on the dress shirt, the trousers, and draped the tie around his neck. Then he slipped on the jacket and then the loafers. Once everything was on, the boy looked in the mirror as he tried to tie his necktie. It took a couple of tries, until he somehow managed it and fastened the silver clip that came with it. Satisfied, he looked at his reflection in the bathroom mirror. The uniform fit, but something felt off as he looked at his reflection. If anything his untucked shirt, unbuttoned collar, loose tie and open jacket further emphasized how much of a ‘thug’ he is.

He frowned and made small adjustments, tucking in his dress shirt, straightening out the collar, and buttoning up his jacket. Seeing his reflection, he smiled a bit, thinking about what his grandmother and Kiku would say to him. His grandmother would say something about how handsome he looked and Kiku would agree. He looked, more mature, almost normal. It felt strange to see himself in a school uniform, especially one with a tie. 

Running a hand through his slicked back hair, Takeru undid the product, letting the rest of his hair fall naturally. He washed the product of his hands and raked a hand through his bags, adjusting the strands. His natural hairstyle made him look unassuming, softening his eyes...

“Oi.” He heard Flame call. “Are you okay in there Takeru? What’s taking so long?”

Takeru snapped out of his revelry and walked out of the bathroom. He looked to Flame who was in the same place as before.

“Not bad.” Flame commented, putting a hand to his chin. “I see you changed your hairstyle.”

“It just felt right.” He shrugged.

“Not sure why, but something about your previous appearance made you look unapproachable, especially with other humans.”

“I guess.” Takeru sighed. “I’ll be starting at a new school. It’s better if I don’t look like some thug.”

“If it helps you to blend in, then that’s good. You don’t want anyone to learn who you are in the VRAINS, even though you are a no-name.”

He wondered how in the world, is Flame an AI based on him. The AI often dissed him, even if it isn’t on purpose or to tease him. However, like earlier he had a point. Playmaker did everything he could to make sure no one figured out his real-world identity. The beauty of VRAINS is that you can make yourself look however you want, however different from your real life appearance, but even so Playmaker didn’t look too different from his real world self. His eyes remained the same color, his hair while styled a little different resembled his real world appearance as well.

With that in mind, Takeru pulled out his travel bag, placed it on his bed and rummaged through the contents.

“What are you doing?” Flame asked.

“I’m looking for something.” He found what he was looking for and pulled out a brown glasses case.

“What’s that?” Flame asked again.

“My glasses.”

“Lens humans wear to enhance or correct their vision.” Flame stated. “I didn’t know you needed glasses.”

Takeru raised an eyebrow. “Are you really an AI? How could you not know I needed glasses?”

“Of course I am. I’m an AI based on you,..” Flame went on.

Takeru sighed. He ignored Flame’s elaboration, opened the case and took out the glasses. He slipped them onto his face. His vision sharpened and cleared. He blinked, then headed to the bathroom to look in the mirror, ignoring Flame’s question.

He looked different, not at all like a thug. Takeru almost didn’t recognize the young man in the mirror. Smiling, he spun around looking at himself from different angles.

“It’s nice to meet you. My name is Homura Takeru.” He greeted his reflection.

Takeru tried to embody what his current look reflected. He laughed and looked back at his reflection.

He looked almost...almost... like his dad... with his mom’s smile. Takeru gripped the rim of the sink and stared at his knuckles, trying to force back tears and stifle any whimpers. He shouldn’t get so emotional over his own appearance. He’s trying to move forward, not get caught up in what ifs or-or...

“Takeru, are you alright?” Flame called out of concern.

“Yeah, I’m alright.” He looked back up at his reflection. An unassuming boy with glasses. “ _ I _ think I am going to like school.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> *If this had been in Japanese Takeru would have been using ‘ore’ up until the Italicized ‘I’ s, switching to ‘boku’ which he often uses while in the real world when he moves to Den City  
> \- I don't know what the protocol is with receiving a school uniform(in Japan), but I had assumed for this chapter and the setting of VRAINS it had been delivered.  
> \- I don't know much about 'hair products' either. It's most likely a pomade or gel Takeru uses/used, but who knows.  
> \- I'm not sure about the glasses, but seeing how he wears them almost all the time in the real world even at the end of VRAINS, it seems likely they are a prescription and that he needs to used them. Some commenters on certain clips have pointed out the he often looks like he's squinting.  
> \- We see pictures of Takeru's parents but only up to their noses, the sheen of the glass covering the top portion of their heads for whatever the reason is by the showrunners, animators, etc. Or maybe it's a metaphor, how Takeru feels so guilty about his parents' death and not being able to remember entirely the moments leading up to his kidnapping. There is the idea that a child resembles the parent of the opposite biological sex (daughters to fathers and sons to mothers), but this is what I ended up deciding for my work.  
> \- In Japanese there are a lot of ways to say 'I' and each variant can offer insight as what kind of person is the speaker. In this case, Takeru in his flashbacks before the start of season 2 and while he is Soulburner uses 'ore' commonly used by male characters who are confident (in themselves and self assured), arrogant or are hot-headed/blooded. Many Yu-protagonists refer to themselves as 'ore', like Yami Yugi/Atem, Yusei Fudo and Yuya Sakaki. While living in Den City Takeru often uses 'boku'. This version of 'I' is often used by young boys or gentle male characters, for example, Yugi Motou and Yuga Ohdo refer to themselves as 'boku'. There is one moment in the Japanese dub Takeru talks in a tone more closely associated with Soulburner and even uses 'ore'. Yusaku is left a little dumbstruck while Flame points it out.


	3. Burn Up My Soul

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> How Takeru decided on his avatar's appearance and name.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This may as well be the last update for a while and until next time I hope you enjoy what's been posted so far.

“That should do it.” Takeru affirmed aloud

“That’s the avatar you created.”

Flame looked over the figure. It was relatively simple. The avatar was wearing a form-fitting bodysuit much-like Playmaker’s and many other avatars, that was mainly gray, with a yellow arrow shaped stripe going down the front with accenting orange lines. There were orange bands on the forearms and lower legs above a pair of red boots and grey gloves with red gauntlet armor. The irises were a golden yellow. The hair was a mixture of colors reminiscent of Playmaker, Go and Blue Angel, styled with some three central bangs sticking up with the outer two framing his avatar’s face.

“Not bad.” Flame commented, arms crossed. “But…”

Takeru blinked. “But?”

“Your avatar could be cooler.” He finished.

Takeru raised an eyebrow. “How so?”

Flame smirked, at least Takeru thought so from the way the AI’s eyes curved upward. “You want to see?”

Takeru shrugged. He wasn’t the best at technology, but he figured he’d let the AI make some changes. “Sure.”

“Very well then.” The AI disappeared into the duel disk and the image began to change.

The right glove on the avatar changed to a fingerless red glove that stopped at the wrist baring a portion of the forearm, with the end portion of the red armor at the end of the suit’s sleeve. The orange sections on the arms and legs changed into flames, flickering up the limbs. A triangular green gem was added to the center of chest. The hair while still the same colors were rearranged, the bangs were still red and orange while the rest of the hair was indigo and blue. The avatar’s eyes became more golden with a red pupil in the center. They made his avatar’s eye look like a flame was lit in the irises. The final change was a red scarf around the neck that tailed through an opening in the back of the collar. The end of the scarf followed the same motif as the other additions, resembling a flickering flame at the end.

“Amazing.” Takeru admitted. “I didn’t think of the scarf when I decided on the bodysuit.”

“Isn’t it?” Flame beamed as he popped back out. “Your avatar ought to look as cool as I am.”

“Now I need to figure out a name.” Takeru put a fist on his chin in thought.

“How about ‘Flame Rider’?” Flame suggested.

Takeru made a face. “Pass.”

Flame nodded with his arms crossed.“You’re right it would be confusing if we both have ‘Flame’ in our names.”

Takeru gave it some thought. A three syllable name. Somehow related to his fire themed avatar. 

_ Playmaker. Someone who makes the plays to defeat his enemies. Outwit them at their own game. _

Deep in thought he remembered something flame said. The words that resonated with his heart when he was at his lowest.

_ “Reincarnate, Homura Takeru!” _

“Reincarnate.” Takeru muttered to himself.

“Huh?” Flame glanced at his human origin.

With the idea fresh in his mind, Takeru typed in his avatar’s name.

“Soulburner.” Flame read the screen.

“I want to change, I want to be who I was before, become stronger.” Takeru made a fist. “I’ll burn up my soul to do it.”

“It’s a nice sounding name.” Flame agreed. “It also fits with your deck’s specialty and your skill.” 

Takeru nodded while imagining himself as Soulburner.

_ Someone who burns his soul to become stronger. _

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> \- I figured Takeru wouldn't be versed enough in technology to know how to make certain designs, but would know enough to be familiar with color arrangements and decide on ones that he likes.  
> \- From what is seen with other avatars in the VRAINS, the human ones may either go crazy and practically cosplay in the VRAINS or wear a form fitting body suit with lines/stripes that go down the suit resembling circuitry in motherboards, etc. Playmaker's outfit is a variant of some of the bodysuits seen on other avatars.  
> \- Wikipedia stated that Soulburner's hair colors are a mixture of Playmaker, Go and Blue Angel's. I can somewhat see it, however it could also be in resemblance of fire, often red and orange, but can have a blue tinge (think stove burner or creme brulee torches). They can also be different colors if a certain compound is thrown into the fire causing a change in color (i.e. Flame reaction test) or burns a different gas.  
> \- The Salamangreats revolve around reincarnation. Not just Reincarnation link summon or XYZ summon like in the anime or gameplay (this also extends to fusion and ritual summoning). The main deck members have abilities that allow the user to return cards to the deck or special summon themselves from the graveyard so long as conditions are met like Salamangreat Falco can special summon itself from the graveyard via returning a Salamangreat on the field to the hand. It also relates to a key phrase Flame says during the real life duel Takeru had against Ryujiro when he is frightened by Despair from the Dark. I felt it would connect to his avatar's name and his desire to change. It even shows in his link summoning phrase in the japanese dub: "Appear, the circuit that changes the future" .

**Author's Note:**

> italics- card names.


End file.
